Although it can seem quite bleak out there at the moment (February), small signs of life are appearing on the allotment and it’s time to cut back autumn fruiting raspberries before new shoots appear. Don’t be tempted to cut back summer fruiting raspberry canes though, as they produce fruit on the stems that grew last year. Pruning summer fruiting canes now will mean no raspberries this year!! so wait until your plants have fruited in summer and then cut back the woody canes on which the raspberries grew this year, leaving the fresher looking green stems to fruit next year.(More on this later in the year) If in doubt as to whether you have summer or autumn fruiting canes, don’t prune now and wait until your plant has fruited. Feeling experimental? Then cut back some of the canes now and wait to see what happens.
If you can already see a few tiny green leaves at the base of the plant, just be very careful where you prune, so as not to disturb these new shoots, as these will become the canes that your plant will fruit on in later on in summer. This year, as well as thinning out and cutting back, I’ve decided to move my raspberries to a different part of the plot, but not for crop rotation purposes. Raspberries, if kept in check and well fed, can stay in the same bed for many years.
P.S.I have pruned autumn raspberries in November and December and they’ve been absolutely fine the following year, but in theory, it’s best to leave it until February, when the plant is completely dormant, so there’s no chance of the cold damaging the plant after you’ve pruned it.
P.P.S
I love my Polka raspberries.
October 26th 2011
Now is a great time to order and plant new raspberry canes for next year. Autumn Bliss is a very well-known and popular Autumn fruiting variety, but there are now quite a few new introductions such as Polka, Joan J, All Gold and Autumn Treasure and in fact ‘Joan J’ won best tasting Autumn raspberry in the ‘Gardening Which?’ trials this September. Both Victoriana Nursery and Ken Muir stock good selections of both Summer and Autumn Fruiting varieties and now is the time to order while they still have a wide choice of varieties available. This year I’ve ordered some new ‘Polka’ and ‘Joan J’ canes as I already have Autumn Bliss growing in the allotment and I want to see if there is a difference in taste between the two. I’m going to find a space somehow to plant these in my back garden so that I can pick this delicious fruit just outside my back door next year.
Very helpful. Do have a few canes. Not moving them but will cut them back.
Gorgeous photos as always. Now I have a hankering for a potager.
I’m delighted with ‘Out of my shed’ Full of useful information. I’ve ben looking for autumn raspberries for some time, is it too late to get some now? Would they grow in Leeds?
Dear Gaby-Try Ken Muir, a very reputable fruit supplier at http://www.kenmuir.co.uk/ It’s right at the end of the season for sending out ‘bare rooted’ plants as they are no longer dormant and growth is just starting. I see that they are still selling bare rooted raspberries on their website though, so it’s worth contacting them. They also sell pot-grown raspberries which are available for a longer season. These are however more expensive and will cost more to transport.
Raspberries do very well in Scotland, so I can see no reason why you’ll have any problems in Leeds. All they require is well drained soil with plenty of organic matter-well rotted manure or garden compost -mixed in. They can even take a little bit of shade. Do hope you can buy your raspberries and wish you happy planting and eating! V.best Naomi
Thanks v much for this step by step guide. The photos are a great idea to help know what to look for and the luscious-looking fruit a great incentive!
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Nice post! My autumn fruiting raspberries did well last year, but the summer fruiting seemed to have mainly died off, so I’m off in search of more canes.
I planted my new Autumn Bliss canes in Autumn 2013. Although I understand we should not have done so we enjoyed quite a bit of fruit during Autumn 2014! I cut them back to ground level in February 2015. I now have many, many new canes, some close together in the correct spot alongside the original cane, some spindly canes throughout the bed & various canes (presumably suckers) at some distance from the original cane. It will be a nightmare to try and lift the roots to cut out the spindly canes and suckers now ( I have tried & it is quite difficult) so do I just leave them in situ until next February 2016 when I prune them all to ground level again? Would that be the time to propagate the new suckers if required?